I'm always looking for ways to conserve, yet look cool doing it. How about this for a project? It's replacing an old side by side fridge/freezer. It held a couple taps fine, but had an enormous amount of wasted space, the freezer part never worked well, and just used an endless supply of electricity. A relic from Brady Bunch days.

These newer chest freezers are not only inexpensive, they're energy mizers, too. Basically just a box of super insulation with a small, efficient motor.

The freezer is an inexpensive Haier 7cu ft from Lowes. Fits 4 corny's, but the lid wouldn't close if they were tapped. I wanted to make a serving kegerator, to replace brady bunch fridge.

The Solution? Build a collar to raise the freezer height. Now 4 five gallon (tapped) kegs will fit inside. Also, a 3 gallon corny will fit on the "hump". We use this size for carbonated water, excellent for mixing with juices, or just to drink when you're really parched. With the mannifold, I can carbonate 4 kegs simultaneously.

The result? Almost no dead space...it should be super efficient; comfortable serving height; and it just looks cool to boot!

The collar is made of cedar. Light stain, and verathane finish. The collar combines 2x6 and 2x8 wood to make an inner/outer collar, which basically fit so snug on top of the freezer...no need even for sealant. All holes drilled thru the collar, not the freezer.

The idea came from you guys on the HBD, and elsewhere on the net. I'm not a great innovator, but can copy quite well! How did I do?????

Strange. That looks just like the collar I put on my Haier a couple of months ago. Did you sneak in and take notes? Looks great.

budvarUnregistered guest

Posted on Tuesday, April 26, 2005 - 07:07 am:

Hi Wayne. Actually, it was a combination of a couple of different brewer's who were so kind to share their work. I'd footnote them, but am at work right now. Thanks for the nice comments, guys. Just sharing what other's helped me to do.

If anyone's interested in the specifics, used a dado blade on the table saw for the inner collar. Not a carpenter, just had some scrap wood to practice on before cutting the cedar. My neighbor loaned me his laser miter saw for the outer collar, but I just couldn't keep a straight line with the 2x8's. So the outer collar is more standard joints (told you I wasn't a carpenter). Took my time and eventually had a collar that fit like a glove.

Hi there... There´s a fact I've been thinking about about freezer conversion... As far as I know, freezers hava a magnetic metal inside the rubber seal to ensure that the freezer cover close perfectly (wich also helps freezer efficiency). Now, these collars are all made with wood so, how about the seal? does the cover seal tight against the wood?

For the seal under the collar, I use a 1.5" wide foam tape normally used for sealing camper shells onto the boxes of pickup trucks. Has adhesive on one side and seals great. Getting the lid to fit tight is a function of your woodworking abilities. If you get the top of the collar all in the same plane as the lid, you have a seal. The rubber/plastic seal on my lid does a good job in covering any imperfections.

BudvarUnregistered guest

Posted on Wednesday, April 27, 2005 - 09:42 pm:

The inner collar was 2x6 wood, pretty much the same 1 1/2 inch dimensions of the freezer. The lid fits very well to the collar. However, if the lid didn't form an exact seal, it probably isn't as critical compared to a stand up freezer.